So, let's say you own a Major League Soccer team (three, actually!) and that one of your teams, we'll call them the Waldos, is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Entering the final weekend of the season, the Waldos are locked into either the second or third seed in one of the conferences where the argument for being the lower seed is actually quite good.

The Waldos are squaring off with one of your other teams, the Yellow Bricks, who are locked in a playoff battle with Milanabees for the last spot in the other conference.

If the Yellow Bricks defeat the Waldos, then the Yellow Bricks are all but certain to be in. Otherwise, if it's a draw or the Waldos lose, the Milanabees can still get in to the playoffs with a win on Sunday.

While the latter would be the more exciting option for the league (a nationally televised playoff battle in front of what should be a large crowd), if you owned Waldos and Yellow Brick ... would you tell Waldos to, y'know, take it easy, rest a bunch of starters and only try and keep it competitive?

3 Comments:

You leave so few clues to go by, so I have no idea who you might be talking about. However, if I was in the position, I would, you know, maybe say to the coach, "rest is a good thing before the playoffs."

Who knows, maybe the "no one loves me" Blues will be able to outshine the Yellow and Green stars to let the Waldos stay in second no matter how bad they tank against the Yellow Bricks.